State of Decay 3

Despite not starting life on the best foot forward, State of Decay 2 was able to turn the tides of fate around with a slew of meaningful content updates that have made the game better in more than just one way. State of Decay 3 will most likely build upon those foundations, and hopefully create a sequel that’s bigger and better with updated graphics, new enemy types, and a greater focus on survival. There’s no word on when it will be released, but we know that it will come out for Xbox Series X/S and P

Ark 2: Survival Ascended

The original Ark was a smash hit thanks to a surprisingly addictive gameplay loop and interesting creature design, and those merits seem primed to be taken to the next level with Ark 2: Survival Ascended. The sequel also looks to be placing a bigger focus on the narrative side of things with a star-studded cast that includes but is not limited to Vin Diesel, and all that sounds like a very interesting prospect for the game. It comes out for Xbox Series X/S and PC sometime in the near future.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornoby

GSC Game World is hard at work on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, which is being built using Unreal Engine 5. Set against the backdrop of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 thrusts you into a world teeming with all sorts of mutated creatures and soldiers ready to maul you at the smallest of wrong turns. The gameplay and visuals are looking to be of supreme quality, and we are stoked to check it out when it releases on 5 September 2024 for PC and Xbox consoles.

Pacific Drive

Pacific Drive offers a weird but interesting mix of genres. It’s a driving simulator at its core, but it incorporates well-known survival progression mechanics to craft an interesting gameplay loop. It essentially puts you in the driver seat of a station wagon, and you must collect resources and upgrade the vehicle to finally get out of a radioactive zone. Pacific Drive is out now for PS5 and PC.

Road to Vostok

Road to Vostok is all about embarking on a long trek through a war-torn region. It’s a brutal survival game that features realistic shooting mechanics, complex progression trees, and an open world brimming with all sorts of dangers. Add to that permadeath mechanics and the ability to trade items with other players, and Road to Vostok becomes a pretty compelling survival experience for genre fans.

Project Ferocious

OMYOG’s upcoming Project Ferocious feels like the perfect tribute to classic shooters like Turok and Dino Crisis with its focus on hunting dinosaurs and exploring lush jungle environments. The shooting mechanics look fantastic, and the developer promises a dynamic gameplay loop which sounds pretty enticing. It comes out for PC, PS4, and Xbox One sometime in the near future.

Sons of the Forest 1.0

Sons of the Forest serves as an excellent sequel to The Forest, and the bevy of gameplay improvements has made this game better than the original in almost every conceivable way. Sons of the Forest has had some great critical and commercial reception since its release in early access, and version 1.0 is now available on PC. Endlight Games has stated that this release will have plenty of new changes, and while the details of those improvements are shrouded in mystery – it’s definitely worth looking forward to nevertheless.

Frostpunk 2

The original Frostpunk managed to win over the hearts of many survival game fans with its brutal simulation mechanics and tough choices, and those strengths will most likely be taken to the next level with the sequel. In Frostpunk 2, players will have to make tough choices to ensure the city stays warm and safe. You will have to craft controversial laws, keep a check on the several factions that reside within the city, and keep tabs on a ton of other variables to ensure a smooth flow of operations. It all sounds pretty captivating, and we will be checking it out when it comes out sometime in 2024.

The Alters

The Alters tasks you to make your way out of a distant planet after crash landing on its surface, and while that might sound like a generic narrative setup for a survival game – developer 11-bit Studios has quite a bit of tricks up its sleeve that makes this game a lot more interesting than its contemporaries. For starters, you can make clones of yourself and delegate tasks to them which is a pretty interesting concept with a ton of potential. Furthermore, there are elements of decision-making and crafting that all come together to make The Alters a game that’s worth looking out for. It comes out for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S sometime this year.

Light No Fire

Hello Games is no stranger to survival elements, as evidenced by No Man’s Sky, but Light No Fire offers a much larger scale. Announced as the first “real” open world with an Earth-sized planet to explore, players can create buildings and form towns, explore various biomes, uncover resources, explore its origins and maybe tame some wild creatures like dragons to serve as mounts. While the fight for survival is “constant,” there are no restrictions on where you can go. Climb underwater, go deep sea diving or sailing, and much more.

While some may want to jokingly proclaim it as “No Man’s Earth” (somehow missing the slam dunk of “No Man’s Land”), Light No Fire is incredibly ambitious, offering all of these with role-playing elements, various fantasy races, and co-op. There’s no release date, but it’s in development for PC.

ALOFT

Aloft is an upcoming survival sandbox game that takes place on floating islands in the sky. Players can dive in solo or co-op with their friends, and explore the endless skies to take control of the many islands peppered throughout its massive world while fighting the enemies that lie in your way. In addition to exploration, you can majestically fly through the air, collect various resources, and discover ancient ruins in this cozy-looking survival game. Aloft is scheduled to be released in 2024 on PC.

Once Human

Developed by Starry Studio, Once Human puts you on the path to uncovering a massive secret behind a dark corrupting force known as the Stardust. Set in a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by fierce monsters and hordes of undead, Once Human’s gameplay revolves around exploring these desolate ruins and fighting gargantuan bosses while working on building out your character with strong weapons and high-level gear. Once Human also offers co-op options to join forces with friends, which should make it a pretty fun time for survival game enthusiasts. It comes out for PC in Q3 2024.

Rooted

Built using Unreal Engine 5, Rooted promises brutal survival mechanics in a post-apocalyptic world brimming with all manner of dangers like ferocious undead creatures and scarcity of important resources. It presents its post-apocalyptic world in great detail thanks to Unreal Engine 5’s impressive feature set, and that combined with the systemic game design makes it a compelling experience. It comes out for PC sometime in the near future.

Outbreak Island

Outbreak Island is all about a detective who has been stranded on an island and must now solve an overarching mystery surrounding the mystical land. The gameplay juggles between resource gathering, investigating clues scattered throughout the island, and shooting down enemies with a wide array of weapons – all of which sounds like a lot of fun. It will be released for PC sometime in the near future.

Derelicts

Developed by Romain, DERELICTS is set in a future where Earth has been covered by strange radiation – and you must embark on a grand adventure to get to the bottom of this mystery. It’s a simple narrative setup, but DERELICTS manages to impress with its intricate crafting systems that let you come up with all sorts of interesting ideas to delegate tasks like resource building and crafting to custom-built machines. It looks like a game that will be worth sinking your teeth into, and it releases for PC sometime in the near future.

Welcome To Pine Harbor

Welcome To Pine Harbor is an upcoming survival game from a small group of developers by the name of Vision Forge Team, and it looks to be packing some punch. Set against the backdrop of the ominous town of Pine Harbor, the game is set to present a story that’s equal parts scary and immersive. While not a lot of information is available at the moment, the developers have stated that the game is inspired by the likes of Silent Hill and Resident Evil which has us excited to see what’s in store. Of course, it’s incredibly atmospheric and makes good use of Unreal Engine 5’s detailed shadows and realistic lighting tech – and we will be checking it out when it releases sometime next year.

Grand Theft Auto VI

Grand Theft Auto 5 image used for representation purposes.

It’s been almost an entire decade since Grand Theft Auto 5 released on the PS3 and Xbox 360, and fans still have little to no information available on the next game in the series. While we have official confirmation that GTA 6 is in active development and we have seen a very early version of the game in action thanks to recent leaks, we don’t really know much about its story, new gameplay features, map size, and the like. However, it’s fair to expect that GTA 6 will feature a fully realized sandbox like every other entry in the franchise – so you will be able to carve out all sorts of fun with vehicles, NPC AI, and hopefully a Director mode as well. But since GTA 6 isn’t releasing anytime soon, it’s best to keep expectations in check for now.

The Last of Us’ influence on Rooted is instantly apparent in the trailer, from the choice of music to its overgrown environments. Various elements of the gameplay loop are touched upon, from crafting and base building to exploration and more, while we also get a decent look at things such as combat and stealth.

Players will be able to build multiple bases, while co-op gameplay will also be supported, as you’d expect from the genre. Sure enough, it’s looking like an intriguing prospect, especially for fans of the survival genre. Check out the trailer below.

Rooted is in development for PC using Unreal Engine 5. A release date hasn’t yet been announced.

Of course, the popularity of the genre isn’t waning down anytime soon, and the future holds a ton of interesting and captivating experiences for fans. In this feature series, we have highlighted many such experiences such as the likes of DERELICTS and PROJEKT Z among others. Today, we will be shedding a light on yet another excellent-looking survival game – Rooted. It’s a complex game with many moving parts and inspirations, and to that end – we ask, what the hell is exactly Rooted?

Currently in development at Headlight Studio, Rooted is an ambitious survival game. As mentioned before, the game takes cues from a multitude of sources and tries to craft a dense experience that should keep players hooked on the game for long periods of time. Rooted is set against the backdrop of a post-apocalypse, but it’s a bit different in that regard. You see, there was once a bustling human civilization; one that had built great cities and made great progress in technological and scientific fields. But somehow, a global bacteriological war was waged all over the world which wiped out most of the population.

Nature reigned supreme once again, and started chipping away at the last remnants of this once glorious civilization. Crumbled buildings and overgrown vegetation stand where once there were signs of civilization and technological marvels. You are one of the last standing survivors, and you must now endure these hostile surroundings through any means possible. The narrative setup looks to be a novel one amidst the barrage of zombie-based post-apocalyptic survival games, and we’d really like to see proper lore and extensive history of the ones that came before.

Now coming over to the gameplay side of things, Rooted is a survival game and the majority of the gameplay entails exploring wide open spaces in search of any help – be it human, non-human, resources, or ammunition – that would help you inch closer and closer to your goals. The game can be played either in third-person or first-person mode, which is a very appreciated feature on its own. In order to survive through these tough situations, you will need to collect resources such as wood, which will then help you in crafting a shelter for yourself. This shelter then should prove useful as a base of operations, and you can customize the look of these shelters as per your liking. 

Since players will be exploring varied biomes (each of which comes with its own set of challenges to overcome), it’s vital that you have the required resources to build a shelter for yourself. Roaming around during extremely cold or hot weather will most likely have status effects on your health and other attributes, but we don’t know how these can be counteracted just yet.

Of course, there will be combat situations as well, and players will have to come face to face with a bevy of threats during their travels. Sadly though, we don’t know much about how that works in gameplay but what we do know is that players will be able to wield makeshift melee weapons in a similar vein to Dying Light to dispatch their foes. These weapons can also be upgraded through accumulated scraps and items collected through exploring the environments. Headlight Studios has stated that both animals and humans can be hostile towards the players, so it seems fair to expect some variety within combat encounters. Whether there will be any mutants or other creatures to deal with remains a mystery at this point.

As for progression, Headlight Studios hasn’t mentioned any details about a bespoke main quest just yet. Instead, the developer seems to be striving for a more natural form of progression, one that’s based around crafting and items. New areas should gradually open up for exploration as you craft items that help in navigation or weapons that are more efficient against different types of enemies. However, Rooted isn’t completely devoid of natural progression and there will be major events that will permanently change your surroundings and bring new challenges to overcome.

Rooted is a game that’s built around cooperative play, so playing with a friend or a loved one should be the ideal way to experience the game. That seems to be a fair argument in Rooted’s case, because in the absence of any dedicated main quest – the emergent stories that you create with your friends should urge you to keep coming back for more. That said though, Rooted can be played solo as well – which should also prove to be an enjoyable experience with its own merits.

Headlight Studios has used Unreal Engine 5 for Rooted, and it looks really good. Sure, it’s not as graphically intensive as something like Project M which we discussed before in this feature series, but it looks really impressive nevertheless. The environments are a highlight, and praise should be attributed to both the game’s technical make-up and the visual design on showcase. Rooted presents its bleak world with plenty of overgrown vegetation and daunting weather conditions like thunderstorms emerging from the remnants of civilization. It’s an oppressive world that has been reclaimed by nature, and the player is at the mercy of these conditions in his or her pursuit of survival.

Coming to the topic of release, Rooted is still in the very early stages of development, and is currently in development for the PC platform. It’s being funded by a Kickstarter campaign and doesn’t seem to be interested in acquiring a publisher anytime soon. Either way, it’s still very early days and if we had to take a guess on when Rooted may release, we’d put it in the ballpark of somewhere around 2024 at the very least. Of course, game development is no easy feat – more so when a developer is working with very limited resources – which is the case with Headlight Studios’ upcoming title. As such, the best course of action seems to be to keep expectations in check for now because Rooted probably wouldn’t be releasing anytime soon.

But that does not take away from the fact that Rooted is looking to be a damn promising game, and one that has the potential to become the next Steam sensation. Here’s hoping with crossed fingers that it ends up being worth the wait, and then some more. 

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.